TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER WANTED TO TEACH SINCE AGE 6

FRUITLAND -- Linda Blankenship explained to a first-grader that sometimes she was tired when she got home from school. The youngster seemed puzzled.

"But, Mrs. Blankenship," the little girl said, "you don't work!"

While teaching first-grade at Jackson North Elementary School in Fruitland is indeed work, Blankenship said it is the job she has wanted to do since she was 6.

"I didn't know I would be side-tracked many times before I reached that goal," she said.

She graduated from high school, married and moved with her husband, Bruce, to Japan. When they returned home, Blankenship had three daughters.

For the next 10 years, Blankenship attended Southeast Missouri State University, slowly but steadily working toward her teaching degree.

She has taught first-grade at North Elementary for nine years.

North Elementary has one class each of grade one through six. Blankenship said the small-school atmosphere is good for teachers and students because they get to know each other and feel secure.

"Everyone helps everyone," she said. Older students watch over younger ones. The younger ones look up to the older ones as role models.

"A unique aspect of being a first-grade teacher at North Elementary is that the majority of my students stay at North until they finish in sixth-grade," she said.

She watches her students grow. Often the students measure their own growth against Blankenship, who is 4 feet 11 inches tall.

Blankenship uses lots of cooperative learning in her class, which helps children learn academics and life skills like getting along, sharing and compromise.